The Winter's Tale

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The Winter's Tale is a play by William Shakespeare first published in First Folio 1623. Although grouped among comedy, some modern editors have re-linked the drama as one of Shakespeare's late romance. Some critics consider it to be one of Shakespeare's "problem games" because the first three acts are filled with intense psychological drama, while the last two are comedy and give a happy ending.

The drama is very popular, revived in various forms and adaptations by some of the leading theater practitioners in the history of Shakespeare's performance, beginning after a long interval with David Garrick in his adaptation of Florizel and Perdita [ conducted in 1753 and published in 1756). The Winter's Tale was revived in the 19th century, when the fourth "pastoral" act was very popular. In the second half of the 20th century, The Winter's Tale overall, and withdrawn most of the First Folio text, was often done, with varying degrees of success.

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Sinopsis

After a brief setting scene, the game begins with the appearance of two childhood friends: Leontes, King of Sicilia, and Polixenes, King of Bohemia. Polixenes visited the Sicilian kingdom, and enjoyed meeting his old friend. However, after nine months, Polixenes wanted to return to his own kingdom to tend to cheat and see his son. Leontes struggled to make the Polixenes stay longer, but to no avail. Leontes then decided to send his wife, Queen Hermione, to try to convince the Polixenes. Hermione agreed and with three short speeches succeeded. Leontes wondered how Hermione convinced Polixenes easily, and Leontes suddenly went crazy and suspected that his pregnant wife had been having an affair with Polixenes and that the boy was a Polixenes. Leontes ordered Camillo, a Sicilian King, to poison the Polixenes. Camillo even warned Polixenes and they both fled to Bohemia.

Angered at their escape, Leontes is now openly accusing his wife of infidelity, and declares that the child he is carrying must be invalid. He threw him in jail, for his noble protests, and sent his two masters, Cleomenes and Dion, to Oracle at Delphos for what he was sure would be a confirmation of his suspicions. Meanwhile, the queen gave birth to a girl, and Paulina's loyal friend took the baby to the king, hoping that the child's outlook would soften her heart. However, he got angrier and ordered Paulina's husband, Lord Antigonus, to take the child and leave him in a secluded place. Cleomenes and Dion return from Delphos with words from Oracle and find Hermione openly and humiliatingly before the king. He insists that he is innocent, and asks for Oracle's words to be read in court. Oracle states with certainty that Hermione and Polixenes are innocent, Camillo is an honest man, and Leontes will not have a heir until his lost daughter is found. Leontes avoids the news, refusing to believe it to be true. When this news was revealed, there was news that Leontes' son, Mamillius, had died of the illness caused by the accusations against his mother. Today, Hermione falls unconscious, and is taken away by Paulina, who then reports the death of the queen to her broken-hearted and repentant husband. Leontes vows to spend the rest of his days to make up for the loss of his son, his neglected daughter, and his queen.

Antigonus, meanwhile, abandoned the baby on the coast of Bohemia, reported that Hermione met him in a dream and called her the name of Perdita. He left a fardel (a bundle) by a baby containing gold and other trinkets that showed that the baby was a noble blood. A violent storm suddenly appeared, destroying the ship where Antigonus had arrived. He wanted to pity the boy, but was pursued in one of Shakespeare's most famous stages: "Out, chased by a bear." (It is unknown whether Shakespeare uses the original bear from a London bear, or an actor in a bear costume.) Fortunately, Perdita is saved by a shepherd and his son, also known as "Clown."

"Time" enters and announces a sixteen year journey. Camillo, now in the service of Polixenes, begged the king of Bohemian to allow him to return to Sicily. Polixenes refused and reported to Camillo that his son, Count Florizel, had fallen in love with a low shepherd girl: Perdita. He suggested to Camillo that, to distract his mind from the minds of the house, they disguised themselves and attended a feather shearing party in which Florizel and Perdita would be engaged. At the feast, organized by the Old Shepherd who has prospered thanks to gold in pride, the Autolycus walkers take the pockets of the Young Shepherd and, in various guises, entertaining the guests with the nasty songs and trinkets that he sells. Undercover, Polixenes and Camillo watched Florizel (under the guise of a shepherd named Doricles) and Perdita got engaged. Then, tearing up the disguise, Polixenes angrily intervened, threatening the Old Shepherd and Perdita with torture and death and ordered his son not to see the shepherd's daughter again. With the help of Camillo, however, who yearns to see his homeland again, Florizel and Perdita take the ship to Sicilia, wearing Autolycus clothing as a disguise. They joined in their voyage by the Old Shepherd and his son who was directed there by the Autolycus.

In Sicilia, Leontes was still mourning. Cleomenes and Dion begged him to end his conversion because the kingdom needed an heir. Paulina, however, convinces the king to remain unmarried forever because no woman can match the power of the lost Hermione. Florizel and Perdita arrive, and they are greeted enthusiastically by Leontes. Florizel pretended to be a diplomatic mission from his father, but the cover exploded when Polixenes and Camillo also arrived in Sicily. The meeting and reconciliation of kings and princes was reported by Sicilian court gentlemen: how the old Shepherd raised Perdita, how Antigonos met his death, how Leontes was so happy to be reunited with his daughter, and how he pleaded with the Polixenes to forgive. The Old Shepherd and the Young Shepherd, now made masters by kings, meet Autolycus, who asks for their forgiveness for their deeds. Leontes, Polixenes, Camillo, Florizel and Perdita then went to Paulina's home in the country, where the statue of Hermione had just finished. Seeing the form of his wife made Leontes confused, but then, to everyone's amazement, the statue showed signs of vitality; it is Hermione, restored to life. When the show ended, Perdita and Florizel were involved, and the whole company celebrated the miracle. Although this is a happy ending typical of Shakespeare's comedy and romance, the unfair death impression of the young prince of Mamillius remains alive to the end, an element of unproved tragedy, in addition to the wasted years.

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Source

The main plot of The Winter's Tale was taken from the pastoral romance of Robert Greene Pandosto , published in 1588. The Shakespeare changes to his plot were unusual, especially given the dissatisfaction of this romanticism. nature, and Shakespeare's loyalty to it gave The Winter's Tale the most distinctive feature: the sixteen-year gap between the third and fourth acts.

There are minor changes in the name, place, and detail of the small plot, but the biggest change lies in the survival and reconciliation of Hermione and Leontes (Greene Pandosto) at the end of the drama. The equivalent character of Hermione in Pandosto died after being accused of adultery, while the Leontes equivalent looked back at his actions (including incestuous love for his daughter) and killed himself. The survival of Hermione, though probably meant to create a last scene coup that involves a statue, creates a thematic distinctive distinctiveness of Pandosto . Greene follows the usual Hellenistic romantic ethos, where the return of a lost prince or princess restores order and provides a sense of humor and closure that evokes Providence's control. Shakespeare, by contrast, sets in the foreground of older generation recovery, indeed old, in the reunion of Leontes and Hermione. Leontes is not only alive, but seems to insist on the happy ending of the drama.

It has been suggested that the use of pastoral romance from the 1590s shows that at the end of his career, Shakespeare felt a renewed interest in the dramatic context of his youth. Little influences also show such interest. As in Pericles, he uses a choir to advance action in a naïve dramatic tradition; the use of bears in scenes on the Bohemian coast is almost certainly indebted to Mucedorus, a roman warrior revived in the palace around 1610.

Eric Ives, the biographer of Anne Boleyn (1986), believes that this drama is completely parallel to the fall of the queen, who was beheaded on false adultery charges on the orders of her husband Henry VIII in 1536. There are many parallels between the two stories - including the fact that Henry's closest friend Sir Henry Norreys was beheaded as one of Anne's lovers and he refused to admit to saving his life, claiming that everyone knew that the Queen was innocent. If this theory is followed then Perdita becomes a dramatic presentation of Anne's only daughter, Queen Elizabeth.

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Date and text

The drama was not published until First Folio in 1623. Apart from the tentative initial suspension (see below), most critics believe that the drama is one of Shakespeare's later works, possibly written in 1610 or 1611. Date 1611 is suggested by clear relationship with Ben Jonson Masque of Oberon , conducted in Court of 1 January 1611, in which appeared ten or twelve satyr dances; The Winter's Tale includes twelve dance performances as satyrs, and the maid who announces their entry says "one three of them, with their own report, sir, have danced before the King." (IV.iv.337-38). Editor Arden Shakespeare J.H.P. Pafford found that "the language, style, and spirit of the game all lead to late dating, crumpled speech, packed sentences, speeches that start and end in the middle of the line, and a high percentage of light and weak endings are all the sign of Shakespeare's writing at the end of his career, but more important than the verse test is the similarity of the last drama in spirit and theme. "

At the end of the 18th century, Edmond Malone suggested that the "book" listed on the Stationers List on May 22, 1594, entitled "Wynters' nightly entertainment," may have been Shakespeare's, though no copies are known. In 1933, Dr. Samuel A. Tannenbaum writes that Malone then "seems to have assigned him to 1604, then still, until 1613, and finally he settled in 1610-11.Hunter assigned him to about 1605."

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Analysis and criticism

Play title

A drama titled "The Winter's Tale" will soon show contemporary audiences that it will present an "empty tale", the story of an elderly wife is not meant to be realistic and offer a happy final promise. The title may have been inspired by George Peele's The Old Wives' Tale in 1590, where a storyteller recounted the "happy winter story" of a lost daughter. However, early in the The Winter's Tale , the royal heir, Mamillius, warned that "the best sad story for winter." Indeed, her mother was immediately tried for treason and adultery - and her death was announced a few seconds after she proved faithful and Leontes's allegations were unfounded.

Debate

Sculpture

While the language Paulina used in the last scene evokes the magical ritual that Hermione brought back to life, there are some passages that show a far more probable case - that Paulina hides Hermione in a remote location to protect her from Leontes. wrath and that Hermione's re-animation does not come from any magic. The official announced that the court members had gone to Paulina's house to see the statue; Rogero offers this exposition: "I think he has a big problem there in hand, because he [Paulina] personally two or three times a day, since Hermione's death, visits the deleted home" (5.2.103-105). Furthermore, Leontes was surprised that the statue was "deeply creased", unlike the Hermione he remembered. Paulina answered her worries by claiming that the development of age shows "the superiority of the engraver", which makes it seem "as if [she] lives now." Hermione then asserted that her desire to see her daughter allowed her to survive 16 years apart: "You will hear that I,/Know by Paulina that oracle/Hope you will be there, have preserved/I alone to see this problem" (5.3.126- 129).

However, action 3.2 questions the "rational" explanation that Hermione was snatched and exiled for 16 years. Hermione swung the news of Mamilius's death, and rushed out of the room. Paulina returned after a short monologue from Leontes, carrying the news of Hermione's death. After some discussion, Leontes demands to lead towards the body of his wife and son: "Prithee, take me/To the corpse of queen and my son:/One grave will be for both: over them will/"(3.2) Paulina seems convinced of Hermione's death, and Leontes's orders to visit both bodies and see them buried are never questioned by later events in the drama.

Bohemian sea coast

Shakespeare fellow playwright Ben Jonson mocks his presence in the game of beach and desert in Bohemia, because the Bohemian Kingdom (which is roughly the same as the modern Czech Republic) has no beach (landlocked) or desert. Shakespeare follows his source (Robert Greene ) in giving Bohemia a beach, although he reverses the location of characters and events: "Part of the Bohemian Pandosto was taken by Leontes of Sicily, from Egistus of Sicily by Polixenes of Bohemia". To support Greene and Shakespeare, it has been shown that in the 13th century, for a period of less than about 10 years, under Ottokar II Bohemia, the territory ruled by the king of Bohemia, though never incorporated into the Bohemian kingdom, stretched into the Adriatic, and, if one takes "Bohemian" to mean all the territories ruled by Ottokar II, it is possible to argue that one can sail from a Sicilian kingdom to the "Bohemian coast". Jonathan Bate offers a simple explanation that King James's palace is politically allied with Rudolf II, and the dramatic character and role of Sicilian and Bohemian rulers is reversed for reasons of political sensitivity, and in particular to enable it to be performed at Elizabeth's wedding.

In 1891, Edmund O. von Lippmann pointed out that "Bohemia" is also a rare name for Apulia in southern Italy. The more influential is the argument of Thomas Hanmer's 1744 that Bohemia is a misprint for Bithynia, an ancient nation in Asia Minor; the theory was adopted in the influential 19th-century production work of Charles Kean, featuring a glorious Bithynian court. At the time of the medieval Sicilian kingdom, however, Bitinia was long extinct and its territory was controlled by the Byzantine Empire. On the other hand, this drama alludes to Hellenistic antiquity (eg, Oracle of Delphos, the names of kings), so that "Sicilian kingdom" can refer to the Greek Sicilian, not to the Sicilian Empire in the later medieval.

Pastoral genre is not known for its precise verisimilitude, and, like various references to ancient religions and contemporary religious figures and customs, these inaccuracies may have been included to underscore the fantastic and chimeric qualities of this drama. As Andrew Gurr put it, Bohemia may have been given the seaside "to ridicule geographic realism, and to underline the unreality of the place in the drama".

Another theory that explains the existence of the beaches in Bohemia offered by C. H. Herford is suggested in the title of the selected Shakespeare drama. The winter story is something related to parents who tell legends of stories to children around the campfire: by using this title, it implies to the audience that these details should not be taken seriously.

In the novel Prince Otto by Robert Louis Stevenson a reference was made to the Seaboard Bohemian soil in the context of a clear parody of Shakespeare's apparent freedom with geography in the drama.

Delphos Island

Likewise, Shakespeare's obvious error puts Oracle Delphi on a small island has been used as a limited proof of Shakespeare's education. However, Shakespeare re-copies this locale directly from "Pandosto". In addition, the learned Robert Greene is not in error, because the Isle of Delphos does not refer to Delphi, but to the island of Cycladic Delos, the birthplace of the Apollo myth, from the fifteenth to the late 17th century in England known as "Delphos". Greene's source for the Apollonian oracle on the island is probably Aeneid, where Virgil wrote that Priam consulted with Oracle Delos before the outbreak of the Trojan War and that Aeneas after escaping from Troy consulted with the same Delian. oracle about his future.

The Bear

This drama contains one of Shakespeare's most famous stage hints: Exit, chased by a bear , staging death off the stage of Antigonus. It is not known whether Shakespeare uses the original bear from a London bear, or an actor in a bear costume. The Royal Shakespeare Company, in one production of this drama, used a large, moving silk sheet and created a shape, to symbolize the bear and wind where Antigonos was traveling.

Dildo

One comic moment in the drama relates to a waiter who does not realize that the poem that shows the reference to the dildo is vulgar, probably because it does not know what the word means. This game and the game Ben Jonson The Alchemist (1610) is usually referred to as the first use of the word in the publication. The Alchemist was first printed, but the debate about the date of the drama composition made it unclear which was the use of the first written word, which was much older.

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Performance history

The earliest recording of this drama was recorded by Simon Forman, Elizabethan "figure caster" or astrologer, who noted in his journal on May 11, 1611 that he saw The Winter's Tale at the Globe playhouse. The drama was then performed in front of King James in Court on November 5, 1611. The drama also acted in Whitehall during Princess Elizabeth's wedding with Frederick, V, Elector Palatine, on February 14, 1613. Then Court appearance took place on April 7th. 1618, 18 January 1623, and 16 January 1634.

The Winter's Tale was not revived during Recovery, unlike many other Shakespeare dramas. It was performed in 1741 at Goodman's Fields Theater and in 1742 at Covent Garden. The adaptation, titled The Sheep-Shearing and Florizal and Perdita , was followed up at Covent Garden in 1754 and at Drury Lane in 1756.

One of the best modern productions staged by Peter Brook in London in 1951 and starring John Gielgud as Leontes. Other notables featured John Philip Kemble in 1811, Samuel Phelps in 1845, and Charles Kean in production in 1856 famous for his elaborate collection and costumes. Johnston Forbes-Robertson played Leontes was remembered in 1887, and Herbert Beerbohm Tree took the role in 1906. Longest Broadway production starring Henry Daniell and Jessie Royce Landis and ran for 39 shows in 1946. In 1980, David Jones, former Associate Artistic Director of the Royal Shakespeare Company chose to launch his new theater company at Brooklyn Music Academy (BAM) with The Winter's Tale starring Brian Murray supported by Jones's new company in BAM In 1983, Riverside Shakespeare Company increased production based on the First Folio text at The Shakespeare Center in Manhattan. In 1993, Adrian Noble won the Globe Award for Best Director for the adaptation of the Royal Shakespeare Company, which was subsequently brought to the Brooklyn Music Academy in 1994.

In 2009, four separate productions were staged:

• Sam Mendes inaugurated his transatlantic "Bridge Project" directing The Winter's Tale with players featuring Simon Russell Beale (Leontes), Rebecca Hall (Hermione), Ethan Hawke (Autolycus), SinÃÆ'Â © ad Cusack (Paulina), and Morven Christie (Perdita).
• The Royal Shakespeare Company
• The Delicatessen Theater also staged the production of The Winter's Tale in 2009. The lantern was in the Stratford Festival of Canada treasury and was spotted at the New York Shakespeare Festival, Central Park, in 2010.
• The Hudson Shakespeare Company of New Jersey is presenting the production as part of their annual Shakespeare in the Parks series. The action was arranged in central Europe during the early 1900s era of the Austro-Hungarian Empire but with distinctly diverse players. African American actor Tony White plays Leontes, Deirdre Ann Johnson plays Hermione, and Monica Jones in the dual roles of Mammilus and Perdita. Also, equipping different players is Angela Liao as Paulina.

In 2013 RSC staged a new production directed by Lucy Bailey, starring Jo Stone-Fewings as Leontes and Tara Fitzgerald as Hermione. The production aired on January 24th at the Royal Shakespeare Theater on January 24, 2013.

In 2015, production company Kenneth Branagh held a show at Garrick Theater, with a simultaneous broadcast to the cinema. Production featuring Kenneth Branagh as Leontes, Judi Dench as Paulina, and Miranda Raison as Hermione.

Also in 2015, Cheek by Jowl staged the drama, directed by Declan Donnellan and designed by Nick Ormerod. Production of tours to France, Spain, United States and Russia among others. In partnership with the BBC and Riverside Studios, the production was broadcast live worldwide.

In 2017 The Public Theater Mobile Unit staged a drama directed by Lee Sunday Evans.

In 2018 the Theater for New Audience held an Off-Broadway drama, directed by Arin Arbus with Kelley Curran as Hermione and Anatol Yusef as King Leontes.

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Adaptations

There are two versions of the film, a silent version in 1910 and a 1967 version starring Laurence Harvey as Leontes.

An orthodox "BBC" production was televised in 1981. The film was produced by Jonathan Miller, directed by Jane Howell and starring Robert Stephens as Polixenes and Jeremy Kemp as Leontes.

In 2014 choreographer Christopher Wheeldon created a long ballet based game for the Royal Ballet at the Royal Opera House in London.

In 2015, author Jeanette Winterson publishes The Gap of Time, a modern adaptation of The Winter's Tale .

In 2016, author E. K. Johnston published the book Exit, Sold by the Bear , modern adaptation The Winter's Tale .

On May 1, 2016, BBC Radio 3's Drama on 3 broadcasts a production directed by David Hunter, with Danny Sapani as Leontes, Eve Best as Hermione, Shaun Dooley as Polixenes, Karl Johnson as Camillo, Susan Jameson as Paulina, Paul Copley as Shepherd and Faye Castelow as Perdita. This production will be republished on May 6, 2018.

An opera by Ryan Wigglesworth, based on the drama, premiered at the British National Opera on February 27, 2017.

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References

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Source

• Brooke, C. F. Tucker. 1908. The Shakespeare Apocrypha, Oxford, Clarendon press, 1908; p. 103-26.
• Chaney, Edward, The Evolution of the Great Tour: The Anglo-Italian Cultural Relations since the Renaissance 2nd ed. (Routledge, 2000).
• Gurr, Andrew. 1983. "The Bear, the Statue, and Hysteria in The Winter's Tale", Shakespeare Quarterly 34 (1983), p.Ã, 422.
• Halliday, F. E. 1964. A Shakespeare Companion 1564-1964, Baltimore, Penguin, 1964; p.Ã, 532.
• Hanmer, Thomas. 1743. The Works of Shakespeare (Oxford, 1743-4), vol. 2.
• Isenberg, Seymour. 1983. "Sunny Winter", Society of New York Shakespeare Bulletin, (Dr. Bernard Beckerman, Chairman, Columbia University) March 1983, pp.Ã, 25-26.
• Jonson, Ben. "Conversation with Drummond of Hawthornden", in Herford and Simpson, ed. Ben Jonson , vol. 1, p.Ã, 139.
• Kalem, T. E. 1980. "Brooklyn Bets on Rep", Time Magazine , March 3, 1980.
• Lawrence, William W. 1931. Shakespeare's Comedy Comedy , Macmillan, New York. OCLC 459490669
• Von Lippmann, Edmund O. 1891. "Shakespeare's Unknowing?", New Reviews 4 (1891), 250-4.
• McDowell, W. Stuart. 1983. Notes director in the program for the production of Riverside Shakespeare Company The Winter's Tale, New York City, February 25, 1983.
• Pafford, John Henry Pyle. 1962, ed. The Winter's Tale , Arden Edition, 1962, page 66.
• Tannenbaum, Dr. Samuel A. 1933. "Shakespearean Scraps", chapter: "The Forman Notes" (1933).
• Verzella, Massimo, "Iconografia femminile in The Winter's Tale", Merope, XII, 31 (sets chism and anti-Petrarchism at The Winter's Tale "in Merope, numero speciale dedicato agli Study at Shakespeare in Italy, a cura di Michael Hattaway e Clara Mucci, XVII, 46-47 (Set 2005-Gen. 2006), pp. 161-179.

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External links

• Scan the First Folio version of playback
• The Winters Tale - The HTML version of this title.
• Winters Tale in Project Gutenberg
• The Winter's Tale public domain audiobook on LibriVox
• Thorough concordance (open source) of all Shakespeare plays
• Set Design for 1948 production at Royal Shakespeare Theater - Motley Collection of Theater & amp; Costume Design

Source of the article : Wikipedia